The amendments, adopted last October with a grace period that extends until March 1, now require both Department of Defense civilians and non-DOD civilians living off base to pass a background check as part of the registration process for their weapons.

An additional change, Bush said, requires off-base military personnel to register only the weapons they would bring onto the base for hunting or other purposes. The previous rule required registration of all firearms.

“If we just look at the weapons, and if people are non-military, we won’t know if we have someone who is prohibited from bringing a firearm on the installation,” he said. “Once we do a background check, we’ll know if they have a felony – or even a misdemeanor dealing with domestic violence.”

Anyone failing the background check will be advised of the reasons and will have the option of appealing the decision to the base commander.

The changes are unrelated to the fallout from the Sandy Hook elementary school shootings in Connecticut, Bush said, and were adopted last October with a four-month grace period to allow everyone to become acquainted with the changes.

The amended policies stem, in part, from a January 2012 directive from the Department of the Army asking that military bases update their rules for control of firearms, ammunition and other dangerous weapons.

The broad edict included a range of rulemaking options that gave individual base commanders leeway in drafting or updating policies.

AT A GLANCE

Beginning March 1, the following changes will go into effect at Fort Gordon:

• Fort Gordon will officially begin asking people for paperwork verifying that Department of Defense civilians and non-DOD civilians living off base have undergone and passed a background check that allows them to bring a firearm on post. The policy requiring the background check was adopted in October but the grace period for compliance will end March 1.

• The existing rule that military personnel residing off-post must register all weapons will change to require that they only need to register weapons they plan to bring on post to participate in authorized activities.

Learn more about Fort Gordon’s policy at www.gordon.army.mil/dhr. Click “Regulations and Forms” and select form 210-13.